Housing Finance System in India and China - An Exploratory Investigation

The current work aims at investigating the Housing Finance System in India and china with the follwoing major objectives. (i) To study the structural characteristics of housing finance system such as housing market and housing finance, borrowing contract types, lending and funding and regulations across the countries. (ii) To compare and contrast the evolution and recent trends in housing finance system in India and China. (iii) To assess the potential risk implications including the default, recovery, non-performing advances in this sector, the reasons and the recovery

Housing Finance System in India and China - An Exploratory Investigation

The current work aims at investigating the Housing Finance System in India and china with the follwoing major objectives. (i) To study the structural characteristics of housing finance system such as housing market and housing finance, borrowing contract types, lending and funding and regulations across the countries. (ii) To compare and contrast the evolution and recent trends in housing finance system in India and China. (iii) To assess the potential risk implications including the default, recovery, non-performing advances in this sector, the reasons and the recovery

Leadership, human resource management and the content of the psychological contract

This paper argues that, in combination, management leadership styles (transactional versus relational) and human resource management practices (flexibility versus commitment) play an important role in formulating the orientation and content of the psychological contract. The paper presents a theoretical framework of how this occurs, drawing upon and integrating prior research to develop a typology of psychological contract obligations based on a two-by-two matrix, with leadership style and HRM systems on opposing axes. The resultant obligations are termed as partnership, paternalistic, market-based and dynamic. Implications are discussed from the viewpoint of both individuals and organizations. Crucially, the paper posits that a failure to match leadership styles and human resource (HR) practices may lead to mismatched expectations between employees and employers. This may have negative consequences for an organization’s performance as, under the psychological contract, a breach of perceived obligations to employees by employers can have consequences for employee attitudes and behaviors

Top team trust, knowledge sharing and innovation

In the present research, we developed a causal model of organizational innovation incorporating the literature on top management teams (TMT) and knowledge-sharing in organizations. We hypothesized that top team composition and trust would predict organizational innovation through the mediating variables of task reflexivity and knowledge-sharing. We tested the model using data collected from thirty-five knowledge intensive firms in Ireland operating in the software industry. Results indicated that top team trust, knowledge-sharing and task reflexivity have both direct and indirect relationships with organizational innovation. Implications for research and practice are discussed

A nutrigenetic approach to investigate the relationship between metabolic traits and vitamin D status in an Asian Indian population

Studies in Asian Indians have examined the association of metabolic traits with vitamin D status. However, findings have been quite inconsistent. Hence, we aimed to explore the relationship between metabolic traits and 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentrations. We investigate whether this relationship was modified by lifestyle factors using a nutrigenetic approach in 545 Asian Indians randomly selected from the Chennai Urban Rural Epidemiology Study (219 normal glucose tolerant individuals, 151 with pre-diabetes and 175 individuals with type 2 diabetes). A metabolic genetic risk score (GRS) was developed using five common metabolic disease-related genetic variants. There was a significant interaction between metabolic GRS and carbohydrate intake (energy%) on 25(OH)D (Pinteraction = 0.047). Individuals consuming a low carbohydrate diet (≤62%) and those having lesser number of metabolic risk alleles (GRS ≤ 1) had significantly higher levels of 25(OH)D (p = 0.033). Conversely, individuals consuming a high carbohydrate diet despite having lesser number of risk alleles did not show a significant increase in 25(OH)D (p = 0.662). In summary, our findings show that individuals carrying a smaller number of metabolic risk alleles are likely to have higher 25(OH)D levels if they consume a low carbohydrate diet. These data support the current dietary carbohydrate recommendations of 50%–60% energy suggesting that reduced metabolic genetic risk increases 25(OH)D

Automatic configuration of ROS applications for near-optimal performance

The performance of a ROS application is a function of the individual performance of its constituent nodes. Since ROS nodes are typically configurable (parameterised), the specific parameter values adopted will determine the level of performance generated. In addition, ROS applications may be distributed across multiple computation devices, thus providing different options for node allocation. We address two configuration problems that the typical ROS user is confronted with: i) Determining parameter values and node allocations for maximising performance; ii) Determining node allocations for minimising hardware resources that can guarantee the desired performance. We formalise these problems with a mathematical model, a constrained form of a multiple-choice multiple knapsack problem. We propose a greedy algorithm for optimising each problem, using linear regression for predicting the performance of an individual ROS node over a continuum set of parameter combinations. We evaluate the algorithms through simulation and we validate them in a real ROS scenario, showing that the expected performance levels only deviate from the real measurements by an average of 2.5%

Evidence for the association between FTO gene variants and vitamin B12 concentrations in an Asian Indian population

Background Low vitamin B12 concentrations have been associated with major clinical outcomes, including adiposity, in Indian populations. The Fat mass and obesity-associated gene (FTO) is an established obesity-susceptibility locus; however, it remains unknown whether it influences vitamin B12 status. Hence, we investigated the association of two previously studied FTO polymorphisms with vitamin B12 concentrations and metabolic disease-related outcomes and examined whether these associations were modified by dietary factors and physical activity. Methods A total of 176 individuals with type 2 diabetes, 152 with pre-diabetes, and 220 normal glucose-tolerant individuals were randomly selected from the Chennai Urban Rural Epidemiology Study. Anthropometric, clinical, and biochemical investigations, which included body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, vitamin B12, homocysteine, and folic acid were measured. A validated food frequency questionnaire was used for dietary assessment and self-reported physical activity measures were collected. An unweighted genetic risk score (GRS) was calculated for two FTO single-nucleotide polymorphisms (rs8050136 and rs2388405) by summation of the number of risk alleles for obesity. Interaction analyses were performed by including the interaction terms in the regression model. Results The GRS was significantly associated with increased BMI (P = 0.009) and risk of obesity (P = 0.023). Individuals carrying more than one risk allele for the GRS had 13.13% lower vitamin B12 concentrations, compared to individuals carrying zero risk alleles (P = 0.018). No associations between the GRS and folic acid and homocysteine concentrations were observed. Furthermore, no statistically significant GRS-diet or GRS-physical activity interactions with vitamin B12, folic acid, homocysteine or metabolic-disease outcomes were observed. Conclusion The study shows for the first time that a genetic risk score using two FTO SNPs is associated with lower vitamin B12 concentrations; however, we did not identify any evidence for the influence of lifestyle factors on this association. Further replication studies in larger cohorts are warranted to investigate the association between the GRS and vitamin B12 concentrations

Leadership, Human Resource Management and the Content of the Psychological Contract Leadership, Human Resource Management and the Content of the Psychological Contract

ABSTRACT This paper argues that, in combination, management leadership styles (transactional versus relational) and human resource management practices (flexibility versus commitment) play an important role in formulating the orientation and content of the psychological contract. The paper presents a theoretical framework of how this occurs, drawing upon and integrating prior research to develop a typology of psychological contract obligations based on a two-by-two matrix, with leadership style and HRM systems on opposing axes. The resultant obligations are termed as partnership, paternalistic, market-based and dynamic. Implications are discussed from the viewpoint of both individuals and organizations. Crucially, the paper posits that a failure to match leadership styles and human resource (HR) practices may lead to mismatched expectations between employees and employers. This may have negative consequences for an organization's performance as, under the psychological contract, a breach of perceived obligations to employees by employers can have consequences for employee attitudes and behaviors

Infantile maxillary sinus osteomyelitis mimicking orbital cellulitis

Periorbital soft tissue swelling may result due to primary orbital pathology or from adjacent facio-maxillary or sino-nasal inflammatory causes. Osteomyelitis of maxilla in the pediatric age group is a rare entity in this era of antibiotics. We present an 11-month-old female infant who was brought with peri-orbital selling and purulent nasal discharge. Computed Tomography showed erosions of the walls of maxillary sinus suggestive of osteomyelitis. Culture of sinus scraping showed Staphylococcus aureus growth and the child improved with intravenous cloxacillin therapy. This case is presented due to the rarity of its presentation in this age group and for awareness to consider this entity in children having fever and peri-orbital swelling

Organizational Justice Perceptions and Employee Attitudes among Irish Blue Collar Employees: An Empirical Test of the Main and Moderating Roles of Individualism/Collectivism

Prior research indicates that individualism - collectivism orientations (I/C) of employees, as well as organizational justice perceptions - procedural and distributive justice perceptions - influence the following employee attitudes: affective/normative commitments, pro-social behaviour, team loyalty, and tenure intent. Research also suggests that I/C orientations are related to justice perceptions with individualism orientation favouring equity principle and collectivism orientation favouring equality principles. Under the assumption that individualism orientation favours equity and procedural justice principles, we empirically test the main effects of I/C orientations and justice principles on employee attitudes. In addition, we also test whether I/C orientations moderate the relationships between justice perceptions and these employee attitudes. We tested these hypotheses using a survey methodology consisting of a sample of two-hundred and four employees from Ireland. Implications for research and practice are discussed